Vegan to Omnivore outreach program

No Bake Crack Balls

No, they aren’t the testicles of crack cocaine, they are little balls of concentrated awesome that just so happen to have crack-like addictive properties.

Ok, maybe that’s a LITTLE bit of a stretch. But not much!! I made these for the first time 2 weeks ago and have had to make them 3 time since.

These little bites were an answer to my poor little one’s cry for something to eat. He hit his picky-as-hell phase, but he was always hungry cause he wouldn’t eat ANYTHING. So I made these, hoping he’d enjoy them, and enjoy them he did. The original recipe included mini chocolate chips, but that seemed a bit overboard, and after tasting them – I agree that it would have been. These are extremely rich as they are, they’re high in fat, so these are not a snack on a few hand fulls of them kind of treat.

Thankfully he’s doing better now. For some reason after he tasted these, he seemed to trust my cooking again. =P

My husband pops them here and there when he refuses to eat cause he’s too busy with whatever. And I bring 2 or 3 of them to work for a quick breakfast.

If you’ve read my blog before, you know how I feel about complicating recipes that really do not need to be complicated, and this super easy recipe is going to be no different.

So here it is:

Mix the dry team together. And don’t get any of sweetened coconut crap from the grocery store, you need to get some quality unsweetened shredded coconut. I got mine in bulk from the local health food store.

Mix the wet team together. You can use honey, agave, or even maple syrup – but you need a nice sticky liquid sweetener. And, if you use natural, unsweetened peanut butter, you may need to taste it and add a pinch of salt or more sweetener. I used standard store-bought peanut butter, which I think is perfect for this. You also may want to microwave the peanut butter and sweetener for about 30 seconds or so to soften it and make mixing easier.

Mix it all up.

Now that you’ve got it all mixed up, let it sit in the fridge for 30 – 60 minutes to firm up a bit, and press (not roll, it will just fall apart) into little balls.

yum! In Colleen Patrick-Goudreau’s “The Joy of Vegan Baking” she has a recipe for “balls” that have coconut, dates and oats. No sugar or flour. So yummy! And I believe a little easier on the waist-line.

I’ve really been considering giving dates another chance in my life, because it seems like a healthier option than pure sugar. I’ve had some poor experiences, but then again that was prior to becoming vegan… my taste buds have changed considerably.